291Potential Biomedical Applications of Renewable Nanocellulose
Despite the signicant progress made toward the understanding of anatomy, com-
position, and biomechanical healing of tendons and ligaments, there are actually
few materials that are ideal replacements for ligaments and tendons (Mathew and
Oksman 2010). Natural tendons and ligaments are able to withstand high voltages.
This factor is limiting the development of new materials.
Synthetic polymers evaluated clinically for reconstruction of ligaments and ten-
dons, including polytetrauoroethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, braided carbon
bers, and polypropylene, were developed and studied, and these showed none of
biomechanical properties of native structures (Bolton and Bruchma